Not so wet weather: Monsoon still elusive for Top End

The Top End has stormed past its record for latest monsoon. Here’s when – and if – to expect it.

Monsoon still elusive in the Top End. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

More than a week after the Top End broke its record for the latest start to the monsoon season, Territorians are still sweating through not-so-wet weather – prompting some to ask: will it come at all?!

“Every year is different, but it would be quite unlikely not to have a monsoon for the entire wet season,” Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Rebecca Patrick said.

“We haven’t had a year without a monsoon on record.”

According to the Bureau’s records, the latest arrival of the NT monsoon was January 25, in 1973.

Nine days past that milestone, Ms Patrick said that while there was a chance monsoonal conditions would develop in the coming days, it was too early to confirm whether relief from the humidity would arrive this week.

“We’re keeping an eye on the movement of a low pressure system over Queensland,” she said.

“The further west that low moves, then the better chance that we do have of having monsoonal conditions developing over the Top End.

“Eastern parts of the Top End would be more likely to see those monsoonal conditions developing around the middle of the week, and then potentially the latter part of the week in the western areas.”

Meanwhile, there is also the chance a monsoon currently sitting over the Arafura Sea could be drawn over the Top End later this week.

In Darwin the chance of storms will increase through the week, but forecast temperatures remain in the low 30s.

A low-intensity to severe heatwave continues in western parts of the Territory, while heatwave warnings have been cancelled for Tiwi and Barkly districts.

“We’re expecting increasing rainfall over eastern parts of the Territory, so the Barkly – which has been seeing some extremely hot temperatures in the low to mid 40s – we are expecting those temperatures to be coming down as we get more cloud cover and showers and storms through the Barkly,” Ms Patrick said.

Originally published as Not so wet weather: Monsoon still elusive for Top End